File image, source: sdf-press.com
On September 7, at least ten were killed during an attack by Turkish-backed militants on a village held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern countryside of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The London-based monitoring group said that militants from the so-called Syrian National Army (SNA) attacked positions of the SDF and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) near Aarab Hassane, which is located a few kilometers to the northwest of the key town of Manbij in the early morning.
The SAA is present in several towns and villages around Manbij in order to enforce a ceasefire agreement that was brokered by Russia and Turkey years ago.
SNA militants managed to storm the small village. However, they were quickly pushed back by the SDF’s Manbij Military Council (MMC) and the SAA.
Six of the attackers were killed along with two fighters of the MMC and two SAA soldiers, the SOHR said, adding that nine other Turkish-backed militants and an MMC fighter were wounded.
The attack was allegedly carried out in support of Arab tribal fighters in Deir Ezzor who have been waging an armed uprising against the SDF since the arrest of local leader Rashid Abu Khawla on August 27.
Nevertheless, in reality radical factions of the SNA, including the Ahrar al-Sham Movement, and militants from al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham who were recently deployed from Idlib took part in the attack.
The attack highlights Turkey’s attempts to take advantage of the uprising against the SDF in Deir Ezzor to further expand its influence in northern and eastern Syria. Several similar attacks by Turkish-backed were reported last week not only in the northern Aleppo countryside, but also in the northern countryside of Raqqa and northern al-Hasakah countryside. The Russian military group in Syria responded to some of the attacks with airstrikes.
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